It's Okay
by PrincessBryana
Summary: Silver was hurting after the events of Sonic 06. He believes that no one else understands how he feels. But, people seem to forget that there was one other person who understands loss better than anyone. (Author's Note:) This is a human AU,, respect it please. And this was not meant to be a shipping fic, just two friends trying to comfort each other.


"Thank you for coming, Shadow. We just didn't know who else to call."

I nodded at the pink haired girl leading me down the hallway as I tiredly rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "You could've called a little earlier..."

_A lot _earlier, or the next morning would of sufficed. Not 1:46 in the damn morning. I may have been created with the need for sleep, but after choosing to do so years ago, I've fallen into the routine of sleeping like any other person. So of course, I was tired. But I guess it's my own fault. When Amy did call, she gave me a choice whether I wanted to come and try to help out or not. So, I groggily slipped on my shoes, put on a dark sweater, left the G.U.N apartment compound and on towards Amy's home.

"Sorry." winced Amy when she noticed my discomfort. She rubbed her own green eyes. I shouldn't be so selfish, Amy must be tired too. "It's just that he hasn't slept in over three days, and he won't listen to a thing I say. So I thought..."

"You thought that someone like me would understand what he's going through."

We reached the end of the hallway and Amy looked at me sheepishly as she stopped by a closed door.

"You're not wrong, Rose" I sighed running a hand through my curls. "Don't worry, I'll see what I can do."

I just realized I literally came over to talk some sense into a moody teen.

Amy's shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank you, Shadow. I'll leave you to it." As Amy walked away, I silently opened the door.

It was dark. that much was obvious when I noticed that the light bulb on the ceiling was smashed, as if it popped. My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness anyway. Most unfortunate when I further noticed the atrocity that was in this room.

It was a mess. No, not the casual untidy kids room kinda mess. It was _chaos._ It looked liked some tornado came in and tossed everything around. The bed was flipped over on the other side of the room, a night stand was on its back in a corner, and some chairs were thrown around too, lamps and other homey knick knacks were strewn about the room as well. Like an actual tornado, everything was just picked up and shuffled around. And all of it was surrounding it's origin, sitting in the middle of the room with his back facing me while hugging his legs. I glanced around the room one more time.

_"Of course__ Silver would do this..."_

"Silver?" I asked, approaching slowly, like one would approach a wild horse. "I came to talk."

"Go away."

"Listen." I got close enough to place my hand on his shoulder. His body tensed under my touch. "Everyone is worried about you. You haven't been eating or sleeping. That's not good."

This didn't prompt him. He still didn't move. He continued to just stare ahead.

"Silver." I said impatiently. "I'm apparently your last hope here. So either you talk, or I'm leaving."

"Bye then..."

_Hell. no._

I didn't ruin my sleep and come all this way just to get shoved back by a kid going through a life crisis.

If he won't talk, I'll provoke him.

"Alright." I teased. "I guess I'm leaving. Go ahead and let yourself waste away." I reached my hand towards the door knob. And let the words come out silently.

"I'm sure _Blaze_ would of wanted this..."

Oh, but he heard me.

Otherwise I would've gone through the door already.

I saw the cyan blue aura in my peripheral vision at the same time a strong force squeezed my throat and slammed me up hard against the wall. So hard that my head collieded with the flat structure and dark spots scattered across my vision. My feet scraped for the floor while my hands shot up to my throat, only to find nothing to detangle. I clenched my teeth into a wicked grin as I looked down at Silver.

Silver's breaths came out short as he stared up me with his arm outstretched, glowing hand locked in a choking hold. His usual young features were quickly replaced by his clenched teeth and furrowed brows of anger. The look of murder was heavily prominent in his honey gold eyes. This, added with his disheveled appearance, made him look like a feral animal.

For some sick reason, this satisfied me.

I _love _watching people underestimate this kid. At first glance, they see him as a push over, somebody they can step all over. They brush him off as the dumb one, the cute or goofy one. But once they pay close attention to him, he's actually neither of those things that people believed him to be. And the next thing they know, they get tossed around all over his bottled up rage. And I would know, Silver almost got the best of me that one time when I easily believed that he was just another hot tempered kid seeking attention. Oh how wrong I was. He is likely the only opponent that equally mached my skills, he was a good fighter. Even after we were at the brink of collapsing, Silver strained himself to win, no matter the difficultly. That was before I kicked him in the head.

Silver is stubborn as hell, once he has his mind set on a goal, he won't give up on anything until he reaches it. He is not goofy, nor dumb, other than me, he's probably the most serious out of all. Because of his background, Silver was a kid that was forced to grow up and fight for survival in his distorted future, he never had the time to goof around and have fun, I don't blame him for being a cautious killjoy. It just frustrates me for some reason how people are too quick to judge him. But then, I do have the satisfaction of watching them eat their own words.

Silver is not a pushover, nor someone to be stepped on, in fact, if he gets pushed, he will tackle them. If he gets stepped on, he'll only stomp on them in return. This kid _has _a strong temper that he gets lost in, and their was only one person able to get him out if it before he hurt himself.

"You..." He growled. "Know _nothing._" Then he shouted. "You don't know anything about Blaze!" He slowly began to close his fist in juxtapose to closing my airway. I like his attitude, kill first ask questions later.

Only this dumbass forgot I was created without the necessity to breathe.

"The most you can do is bruise my throat." I strained, my voice barely passing through. His composure didn't change. "But you're right, I don't know Blaze. _You _do. So how would she react to this?"

Silver's eyes darted between both of mine, obviously not focusing on me, but heavily contemplating on what I just said. This could go either horribly wrong or head into the direction I hoped to approach. My latter theory shined through when Silver sighed heavily, and let me drop.

"She would slap me."

I wanted to laugh. What an idiotically comical thing to say as if he wasn't choking me seconds ago.

With his Psychokenisis, Silver upturned the bed that was face down and plopped down, he put his face in his hands.

"Now go away." He said, his low voice muffled through his fingers.

"I can't just leave you."

"Leave me alone."

I wanted to, but I couldn't. Some selfish part of me thought this was unfair. Where was the help I desperately needed when I was going through my own loss? I had to figure out everything all on my own, and look how I turned out. I distance myself away from everyone because of _one _traumatic moment in my life that made me fear the thought of losing anyone I grew close to.

So then again, I would hate for this already damaged kid to have an even more traumatic outcome from here on out. When we offered to let him stay here in the past with us, I pretend like I don't notice his destress when he sees a beautiful past, a past Silver was unlucky to not be born in. Not only that, but he told us once he wasn't used to all of this, during his first arrival here back when he was on the man hunt for Sonic, Silver almost suffocated in the fresh air. He didn't know his lungs were able to expand bigger than the limited capacity of his intoxicating debris infested future.

"I'm not going anywhere." I said, surprising myself on how gently I made it sound.

"And I'm not going to talk..."

The mattress shifted under my weight when I slowly sat next to him. I kept my distance at two feet apart.

"Fine," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "You don't have to talk, I just want you to do one thing for me."

He scoffed. "And whats that?"

"Cry."

That prompted him to finally pick up his head and look at me. His face, not angry, but now contorted in irritation. I found it kind of funny

"I will kill you."

He can. I just decided not to tell him about his Psychokinetic abilities being more powerful than he could of known. With enough training and focus, Silver does have the ability of twisting organs and breaking bones, even squeezing a heart until it popped. Along with my own Chaos Control, Silver holds the most powerful ability on the planet.

I'll just let him know when he's a little older.

"I'm serious. You're just like me, you grew up believing that tears were a sign of weakness. But really, its not a good idea to keep all of those emotions bottled up in your heart. Trust me."

I grabbed a pillow from off the floor and held it out to him.

"Its better if you just let it all out, then you might feel just a little better."

Silver was silent. His face contorted in frustration over the contemplation. He was thinking this through, as if this absurd idea is really going to make a difference. In reality, saying it outloud does sound kind of stupid. But, this was Rouge's advice to me when she saw me in the low, and I trust that this should work for Silver too.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Silver slowly grabbed the pillow and hugged it to his chest. He put his head down and buried his face in the pillow.

It was silent for a few seconds. Then I heard his first muffled hiccup. His shoulders began to shake and I noticed that his hands clawed at the pillow, gripping it harder. One more sob was all it took for me to put a comforting hand on his back and began to rub soothing circles. It's the least I could do.

It was minutes, maybe, when his pained sobs came out more in anguished wails. Then he would moan, before screaming again. His hiccups became more stuttered and sounded as if he was having difficulty breathing. All these tears, and all the pain was finally unleashed from the damaged kid. I noted it as a good thing, this what he needed. Because this was what I needed when I wasn't in a good place, those pained muffled screams were eerily identical to mine. But, Silver is taking this much better than I am. During my time of mourning, my hands always itched painfully to grab something and squeeze the life out of it.

Sometimes I see Silver, and I sure as hell don't stutter in my words when I say I'm looking into a damn mirror. Like me, Silver could've probably given up trying at _any _point in his life. He probably should of dreaded everything when he was born, when his parents were gone, when he was alone, when he was forced to survive rather than live peacefully, growing with out a childhood, _anything. _But like me...Who knew losing a dear friend would be his breaking point?

I understood, completely.

Fourty six solid minutes went by until his loud sobs reduced to a pained whimper.

_"Finally..." _I thought, slightly relieved. His short pants and choked hiccups made me believe that he would pass out from a loack of oxygen. But then, if he had, maybe it could've worked as an inappropriate excuse to let him sleep. I was partially afraid too that his vocal cords would rip apart with all that screaming, so I am glad he finally settled down.

"I know how you feel, Silver." I said after a long silence.

"I know..."

I blinked, suddenly dumb strucked, and I gazed down at Silver. He slowly managed to pick his head up and looked at me. Though the rim of his eyes were pink, as was his nose, his honey gold eyes seemed, _clearer._

Silver gently hiccuped once more before swallowing thickly from his post sob fest. A small part of me ached seeing him like this, the same way one would feel looking at a wounded puppy, though I don't admit it. Silver spoke, his voice low and raspy, but his words conveyed my heart to ache even further.

"What was her name?" He asked gently.

_"Smart kid."_

"Maria."

Silver slowly nodded as he hung his head low again. He didn't pry any further into it, which didn't surprise me, I know he's curious but he's not the type to get into people's business when the mood doesn't call for it. But I'll admit, I am slightly surprised at my disappointment when he _didn't _pry any further. I guess something in my subconscious believed that talking about my own problems that related to his own would make him feel better.

We sat there in a comfortable silence before I finally broke it.

"How did you know?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He shrugged. "I see the way you distance yourself away from everyone." He said, his voice rumbling, then looked at me. "And also the way you cling to them."

I scoffed. "I don't cling to them."

"Yes, you do."

The calm certainty in his voice surprised me. Then I shook off the weird feeling. There is no way Silver knows a thing about me. He was wrong, I don't cling to my so called friends-

"Because you're afraid to lose them too."

...

"Did Rouge tell you this?"

"No." He shook his head. "I just pay attention. I noticed this when we first met. You come off as distant, and yet, I always see you so close to everyone. You always seemed so quiet and angry too. Slowly, I started to piece together what your deal was. I know you love your friends Shadow, but I also understand that something traumatic happened in your past. I soon realized that you must of lost someone very important to you, that's why you interact with your friends like that. Because, you're afraid to get close and lose them again. Am I wrong?"

During his explanation, I drooped my head down liitle by little when I realized how shockingly right he was. But then again, how could I let myself slip up like that? Was I so readable that I let this kid see right through me? I need to work extra harder on masking my emotions then.

"You're not wrong." I finally said, for the first time in years, emotionally defeated.

"Is that why you get more frustrated around Sonic?"

I snapped my head back up and glared at him this time.

"Okay," I said lowly, yet cautiously. "You're really starting to freak me out. How the hell do you know so much about me?"

If he was now wary of my threat, he didn't show it. Instead he just shrugged. "I told you, I pay attention."

My eyes narrowed. _"Too much attention." _I thought. But he was right. I tend to avoid Sonic the most, and yet, I keep a closer eye on him whenever he goes out to save the day. But I hate him, so much. Why?

"Sonic reminds me too much of _her_. " I told him. "He's too nice. He's always so damn positive all the time. And he puts his friends before himself..."

My hand automatically went to my chest. Rubbing the small aching spot where delicate hands forcefully pushed me into the escape pod.

Our last physical contact.

Silver was patiently waiting for me to finish. I snapped away from that memory and back into reality.

"And he's always thinking about the safety of this planet." I rambled, and put a hand over my eyes. "It just pisses me off how similar they are."

My heart suddenly began to thud harder. What is wrong with me? I haven't opened up like this to anyone in years. Why now? All I know is that right now, my voice was threatening to break.

"If I ever let anything happen to Sonic," To my horror, I choked out a silent sob. "Then I'm losing her all over again. Out of all my friends, Silver, losing him would be the worst feeling in the world. And I'm not ready to face that again."

My head drooped down, and I watched two tears hit my lap. I haven't cried in so long.

"That's why I make sure to stay further away from him." I confessed, my voice pathetically broken. "So when the time comes when Sonic is gone. It won't hurt as much like it did back then. Same with everyone else. I love them, but it's better being alone than to go through all that pain again."

"I understand."

A pillow came into my line if sight. I took it from his grasp and buried my face in it, letting my dam of emotions suddenly flood through. I cried into that stupid pillow. Ironically, I came here to talk some sense into Silver and make him feel better, but the tables have turned. Every negative emotion has shifted onto me now.

"But you know what hurts more, Shadow?"

"Hm?"

"Not appreciating them enough."

That did it. I clung the pillow closer and made an unforgiving and shameful sound that I thought I was incapable of making.

How can a boy be so naïve and so goddamn smart at the same time? But he was so _right_. My goal has always been to stray myself away from everyone, and avoid growing too close. But what then? By the time they depart from the world, I'll be there, but with what? With precious memories that I refused to make with everyone I've lived with? Yeah, I'll be left alone painless, but I'll be left _alone._

I would have nothing with me. No memories of me with Rouge and Omega on G.U.N missions. No sweet treats from Amy and Cream they love to bake for me. No tackling hugs from Sonic. No Christmas gifts from my friends that I grew to love. I would have nothing.

I would have broken my promise.

_"Shadow, please promise me...That you'll help people. And be...friends with them."_

I made a promise, and it only took me now to realize that I haven't been doing a good job of keeping it.

I'm going to change that. Starting now.

I released the pillow.

The only pale and comfortable thing in my arms now was Silver.

I felt him tense up slightly in my embrace, but quickly relaxed as he wrapped his own arms around me as well. I know for a fact that he was not expecting this. Me? _hugging _somebody? It was just uncalled for, but this was my first step. No more keeping my distance, no more closed emotions. If I don't open up and start living an amazing life with my friends now, I never will.

Yeah, they might be gone soon, so I am going make every second matter. I'm going to stop living in the past, I will quit worrying about the future, because I'm going to live in the moment _now._

With my friends.

And I have this innocent broken boy to thank.

I never could've imagined that four simple words from him would change my view point forever. I began to pathetically cry again on his shoulder. Silver rubbed a comforting hand on my back. I see. So it was my turn to be a broken mess tonight, huh?

"Shadow..." I heard him say, his voice muffled from his face pressed against my shoulder. "It's okay to grow close again. you know that, right?"

I closed my eyes, which only prompted for more hot tears to roll down my cheeks.

"I know." I whispered. "I know."

We stayed like that for a while. Though I realized, I was the only one crying.

_"I won't be for long." _I thought mischievously, despite the emotional rollercoaster I'm going through.

"Thank you, Silver." I said, still not letting go. "Wherever she is, I'm sure Blaze would be proud of you."

Now that did it for him. I heard Silver let out a tiny gasp before he buried himself further into the hug. I didn't need to see to notice the warm tears forming on my right shoulder to know that he began to cry again.

"It's okay, Silver." I told him.

That was all. We were both just damaged boys who needed somebody to relate to. I never thought the classic _I know __how you feel _trick would turn out to be really effective on the two of us. And because of Silver, I realized that my original intentions were wrong, I didn't need to keep away from my friends, I needed to be _closer. _For once, I'm glad I got to open up to someone. I'm glad I decided to leave my apartment today. I am very glad, that we both were able to mend our burdens.

"And besides," I added in weakly. "Blaze is just missing, she's not truly gone. You'll find her again, Silver."

At this, Silver paused before sobbing again on my shoulder, this time harder.

"I'm sorry..." He choked. "You'll never see Maria again. But I have a chance. I was being so selfish-"

"No, Silver." I said, content. "It's okay, I have you guys now. It's okay,"

"We're okay."

**o0o**

As soon as my conciousness drifted into a more alert state, I opened my eyes. I blinked lazily as I looked around. The morning sun shining through the window lit up the whole room. I was still in the room from last light, and as I looked beside me, I found Silver laying next me, peacefully sleeping. And with our legs hanging off the side of the bed, I realized we fell asleep vertically in the matress.

_"So last night wasn't a dream." _I thought, staring up at the ceiling. I really did pour my heart out to someone. Nobody would believe this, even _I'm _having a hard time registering the events of last night. But that's okay. It was a start of a new me.

"No Sonic, they're asleep..."

I grew still as I strained to hear the voice that came from the hallway. It's not that these walls were thin, I just had my advanced hearing ability to thank. That was Amy who spoke, to whom I'm obviously assuming was Sonic.

Then I heard the sound of the padding of footsteps quickly growing closer from outside-

"Sonic! get back here!"

But Amy's cry of warning was unheard as the door to the room burst open and in came Sonic. His round facing beaming like always as he _jumped _from up the floor before heavily landing on Silver and I on the small bed. I immediately groaned from the heavy impact, as did Silver, which made this a harsh awakening for him. Now awake, Silver shot daggers at Sonic. Despite this, Sonic was laughing as he was sprawled above us.

"Morning you guys!"

From underneath Sonic, I noticed Amy run in the room with an apologetic look at the two of of us.

"I'm sorry, Shadow." she huffed. "Sonic came for a visit, and found out that you were still here."

"Sonic! get off!"

"Make me, Silver!"

Silver kicked him off the bed.

That was clearly not what I was expecting him to do for someone with Psychokinetic abilities as I actually bursted into a rare laughter while Silver rolled over on the bed and attempted to fall asleep again. Sonic groaned in pain as he slowly stood up from the floor.

"Remind me to never do that again..." Sonic rubbed the sore spot from where he was kicked when his shining green eyes landed on mine.

"I get it, Shads." He said warily. "Seeing me in pain is funny to you. But can you stop smiling? It's kinda creeping me out..."

Though it was hysterical, seeing him in pain isn't what was making me smile.

It was the realization of my _friends _being present in this room with me.

When Amy got closer to Sonic, I took this opportunity to stand up and bring the two into a tight hug.

Sonic and Amy both squeaked in surprise at my sudden affection, but I didn't care. I can only imagine the two exchanging looks of bewilderment on their faces before finally giving in and hugging me back.

"Shadow?" Spoke up Amy, her face squished against the right side of my chest. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, are we dying?" Sonic joked, from Shadow's left embrace. "You seem very huggy today."

I only let out a breathy chuckle as I gave them both a swift kiss on their heads, Which made the two grow stiff at my sudden change in mood, but quickly melted into the hug again.

"I love you guys." I confessed tenderly. "Thank you for being my friends."

I heard Amy chuckle, and I swear I can practically _feel _Sonic grinning from where he was at.

"Aw." Amy gushed, squeezing me tighter. "We love you two, Shads."

I already know they did. I just wanted them to hear it from me this time.

Silver still layed there asleep. Good. He needed it, but I would've given him another big hug and a huge appreciation for what I learned from him. I need to stop pushing everyone away. Silver and I both lost somebody, but that's okay, we'll learn to get through this with the company of others. Nobody should have to go through this alone. We will never be hurting alone again. He has me, and our friends. We will tackle anything the world throws at us together.

And I am ready for that.


End file.
